Beyond Distant Stars
by Dethklok
Summary: This is in response to Maelstrom. Everyone else seems to know the truth of her destiny, except her. But answers are just beyond the door. She just has to overcome that fear of death. Please review, I want opinions on how to proceed. Be honest.
1. Every Night It's The Same

The dream is always the same...

She woke up in a forest...naked. But somehow, that was not a problem.

There was a slight chill in the air, a cool breeze. A look at the horizon told her it was just after sunrise. The rays shot through the trees...very beautiful.

So beautiful...

She was in a clearing, surrounded by fall trees. No sounds at all. Everything felt very distant and surprisingly mellow. To her relief, she felt very pleasant. Yeah, pleasant was the word. Why was that?

A loud clanging sound, terribly at odds with the earthy state of the forest came to her attention. She sprang up, ready to do battle with this invader who broke her peace. Why could she never find peace, either with herself or with the world?

Questions, questions.

A...being stood before her, abruptly. A slight thought to covering her nakedness came to her. The idea of modesty. Then that old, familiar anger wormed it's way into her.

Why go any way but her own? Why dance to any other drumbeat?

She stood up, defiance written in every feature and gesture.

The being stood at it's full height, well over her. It wore green armor, and carried a sword. It was large enough to cleave a man in two. Why didn't that bother her? The fact that the thing also had the head of a bull with the horns to match also didn't feel too out of place to her.

(Minotaur)

How did she know that? And what did it matter? The beast gazed at her, taking in every piece of her, all the components that made up a woman. It gave a long snort from it's nostrils and twin jets of steam came forth. It could have either been approval or amusement, she didn't know. She really didn't care either.

It held something in it's other hand, some kind of pack. With a heave, it threw it at her, the pack coming down with a solid thud in front of her. One long arm pointed to a cave just beyond the clearing. It's dark mouth seemed out of place with the bright morning.

The beast man pointed first at the pack, then at her, then at the cave. It then clomped away, it's cleaver held over it's shoulder at an angle, satisfied the message had come across.

Opening the pack, it seemed no surprise to her that the contents were meant for one singular purpose.

It took her ten minutes to figure out how to adjust the armor and wear it over the tunic. It was solid metal, quite different from ballistic armor. But that seemed like another life...

The helmet was the biggest surprise. It was more of a mask than anything else. There were only slits for the eyes. the rest was solid metal, but beautiful craftmanship. A face had been etched into the burnished, greenish metal. A female face. What was striking was that it was her own, but free from doubt, free from uncertainty, which changed the composition severely.

The helm was heavy, but balanced, and could be worn, once one got used to it. She was now armored against the world... and herself.

She entered the nearby cave, and despite everything, fell into the abyss.

The water jarred her into action, but the armor weighed her down. Breaking the surface, panic set in, and the darkness blurred, becoming first fluid and cold, then freezing and cold. The cavern quickly filled with screaming, until it stopped.

Sinking.

Giving up was very unlike her, but it had become an old friend, recently.

A dim light broke the darkness, and she was actually afraid to see a figure hovering over her. It was black and indistinct. It's head seemed to be cocked, as if studying her.

Suddenly, it bent down and a strong arm grabbed her and dragged her out bodily. She was then uncerimoniously tossed onto the hard ground.

Standing up, she had to know. The figure who had saved her was a woman in a black, wispy robe. She also wore a mask, fashioned into the face of a peacock, and was decorated with a luxurious plumage. Large yellow pitiless eyes stared back at her.

There was no resistance as she pulled off the mask. The mask fell to the ground and shattered, but it was paid no mind.

The figure staring back at her was herself, but altered. There was a dignity, a dark knowledge to her. A bearing. Something she sorely lacked. Somehow that knowledge made her feel...diminished, somehow.

Finally, the stranger spoke. It was little more than a whisper, but she was loud and clear to her.

_ "As long as you have been searching for me, even longer have I searched for you."_ she hissed. _"I am among distant stars, far from you. I wait in the blackness for you."_

She approached her, causing an involuntary step back. She smiled, as genuine and fufilling as any she had seen in her life.

_"I wait in violent storm to claim you as my own, my child from stars far and distant."_ She took her hand and led her back to the water.

_ "Death is nothing, compared to our bond. Your life is mine, to do with what I will. I can even throw it away, if I so wish it."_

Somehow that made her terribly afraid. A loss more than she could bear.

_ "Beyond the abyss..." _she drawled. _"I will come for you. Be on time."_

With a solid push, she fell back into the water, the current claiming her.

The last words were garbled. _"You will know the gate when you see it. All your life had spiraled around my gate. Open the door, and find your way to my side, my child."_

_"I-I love you..." _

She was uncertain if she had heard that last part, or if it was wishful thinking.


	2. You Should See Someone

Hot Dog had been watching her. Again. Annoying little prick...

"Something interesting caught your eye, nugget?" He hated being called a nugget, and he really wasn't. He was just as battle-tested as anyone else. But there was no better way to keep him in his place. He frowned.

"The same dream, again? Maybe you should talk to good old Doctor Hot Dog about all your troubles." He was trying to be light about something that wasn't. That was kind of annoying.

"Constanza, maybe you should have gone into psychoanalysis instead of being a Viper jockey." Kara swung out of her bunk to her feet and cracked her neck before sliding into her boots.

"If there was anyone in need of analysis, it's you." he countered. "Two months you haven't been sleeping right. You're starting to get twitchy. You should talk to someone..."

Talk to someone... that's all anyone wanted to do. When did talking to a frakkin' thing? She remembered that someone wanted to talk to her on New Caprica, not that long ago. He had shut her up in a room and did nothing but talk to her and talk at her. She had shut him up quite a few times, but it was never for good.

Starbuck grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste and walked out, a short way down the corridor was the head. It was empty, except for Helo.

Helo, Helo. Now there was a study in contradictions, but good to have at your back in a fight. Big as a house too. Why the hell was he shaving? It would take a miracle and a prayer to have his face be anything else but smooth as a baby's ass.

"Looking bent out of shape, Captain." he remarked. "Bad dreams?"

"You know it." Kara splashed her face. "Two months, the same dream. Every night. I think I'm losing my frakkin' mind..."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm not really in the mood, and to be honest, I really don't understand it myself. But I'll deal with it." She stared at herself in the mirror. Circles under the eyes. No joy at all in them. Dead battery.

"Hera has bad dreams sometimes. More so lately. We took her to see a psychologist on one of the civilian ships, I can't remember which one.." he rubbed his nose. "It helped."Kara looked at him. "Might want to look into it." he said.

Kara spat and rinsed her mouth. "What's a shrink going to tell me I don't already know? 'Kara Thrace: Certifiable'. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll deal with it.."

"There's something else. There's an oracle, down in Dogsville. Lot of people say she's the real deal. Might be worth your time."

Kara grinned.

"Right."

She froze, staring at her reflection in the mirror. The little girl watching her looked like she had been on the losing side of twelve rounds with Caprica's greatest prizefighter. But it was the woman holding the girl's bandaged hand which concerned her more. She was tall, definitely taller than Kara, and dressed in a thin black robe. She was barefoot, but had silver and gold bangles adorning her ankles. They were also at her wrists. A metallic mask, carved in the face of a bird, stared back at her.

She felt small suddenly. But not alone, which was somehow comforting.

The woman stepped out of the head, leading the little girl by the hand. The girl smiled at her, causing blood to ooze from a split lip. Several spatters dripped onto the deck. Then she was gone.

Kara walked over and stooped down. On the deckplate were several spatters of what looked like blood.

Helo walked over and looked. "Probably lubricant or oil. These pipes are always leaking." Helo pointed up at the various pipes which snaked through the ceiling and upper bulkheads of the head.

"But I'm serious. See someone. Anyone. Can't have our star pilot going crackers, seeing Cylons in the rafters. Hey, that rhymes." Helo grinned, then walked out.

"Yeah." Kara said, with no real feeling. "Going crackers. Can't have that."


	3. My Child

This was what Helo had to deal with, day in and day out? The entire deck smelled like too many people and too little hope. Dogsville was a appropriate name.

The refugees in her way broke ranks and allowed her to pass. She was wearing her dress uniform, and everyone knew that whatever your problem, Colonial Fleet colors and whoever wears them are untouchable. Kara met and returned the looks of antagonism and resentment. She was unmolested.

She slid into a tent that had been erected on the far side of the deck. The lights were on, but no one was home. There was a table which was in the center of the room, with a large ceramic basin set up. A jug of water was next to it. A small bed was in the corner, with several blankets strewn upon it.

A small box on a table near the doorway caught her eye. Several assorted trinkets, small statues and metal pieces were in the box. One caught Kara's eye, a gold figurine with wings. She picked it up, examining it.

"Aurora, Goddess of the Dawn." a slight voice said from behind her. Turning around, Kara saw a slight woman with heavy features, but she carried it well. She wore a gray sleeveless robe, and her dirty blonde hair was done up in a loose bun.

Kara made to put the figure back, but the woman held up a hand. "No. it is yours. You will know what to do with it when the time is right."

"Thanks." Kara slipped the figure into a pocket.

"I am Brenn." the woman said. "Please sit." Brenn then took a seat opposite her. Kara sat and watched Brenn pour water from the jug into the basin until it was filled. "Please, take my hand." Kara linked hands with Brenn, who lightly smiled. "Whatever happens, we must keep contact. Do not let go of my hand, no matter how strange things become."

"What do you mean?" Kara was confused.

Suddenly, Brenn thrust their linked hands into the water. Kara felt a shocking sensation, like an electrical surge, then nothing.

* * *

It was the beating of her heart that brought her back up. A steady thudding in her ears. Her eyes opened. She was lying on some kind of hard bench, or cot. 

Snapping fully awake, Kara saw that she was in some kind of alcove, in the wall of a cave. The walls and ceiling had been expertly carved and were stable.

Looking down at herself, she saw she was still wearing her Colonial Fleet uniform. She looked around. The passageway was lit from the far end, and Kara could faintly hear notes of music coming from it. It sounded quite pleasant. Rising to her feet, she shook the grogginess out of her muscles and began to walk foward with caution.

She stopped and had to take in the room that lay before her. It was the largest cave she had ever seen, as large as the fighter deck on _Galactica_. Sunshine and a cool breeze came through passages cut into the ceiling. There was also a large entranceway at the far end of the room. Kara could see a beach and a blue ocean beyond. The smell of the water, the crashing of the waves, it seemed somehow...fitting to her.

Dominating the center of the large room were two objects. The first was a large, dark circular table, covered with drawings and art supplies. Charcoal, paints, golden sheets of paper. The other object was a large object made of dark wood. It had three strong legs holding it up, and was curved at it's farthest end. The top of the device was propped open, and Kara could see metal strings and dozens of tiny, felt-tipped hammers. A figure was seated in front of it, it's back to Kara. It stretched out it's arms and began tapping white and black keys arrayed in order. The same soft music Kara heard in the alcove sounded again.

Suddenly, the figure turned around and looked at her. It was the same woman from before, wearing the same mask carved into the face of a bird, with large yellow eyes staring at her. Her black hooded robe billowed out about her bare feet. Slowly, Kara began to approach her, the woman slowly watching her.

Probing her.

"What is this?!" Kara snarled. "Some kind of Cylon trick? Well you picked the wrong person to frak with..." she rushed foward and snatched off the woman's mask. She gasped and staggered back.

A Cylon Centurion, several feet taller than her, replacing the diminuitive figure behind the mask. It still wore the black robe. It sprang foward, bladelike hands reaching for Kara's neck.

Suddenly, it stopped, and took Kara's chin in one spindly hand. A gesture so unlike a robotic killer. Kara looked up at it's faceplate, and the pulsing red beam behind the visor.

"_You are projecting_." it said, in a metallic monotone.

What the hell did that mean, projecting?

Suddenly, the metal skin of the Centurion began to rust and fall off, revealing a woman behind the metal. It was no real surprise that again, as in the dream, it was herself, with the long hair she had on New Caprica. And again, the difference, despite the two of them wearing the same face, was profound.

The woman passed her and walked over to the table, picking up a hand mirror. She looked at herself in it, then at Kara. "You are _still _projecting, but this is better."

She took a seat behind the large musical instrument, on a long wooden bench. She looked back at Kara, then gestured at the instrument. "This is called a piano. Play with me?"

Kara slowly took a seat next to this strange woman. "There are twelve notes of the musical scale." she said. "The lowest note is at the far left, and they alternate between the black and white keys." Her hands moved like lightning as she played a short tune. "Now you."

"Now me? I don't know anything about this. I'm not as fast as you."

"It is not difficult to learn. It is not a matter of speed, but of will. But you must try. Please. For me?" It suddenly felt extremely important to Kara that she at least try. For her.

By the fourth attempt, it felt at least manageable to Kara. By the eighteenth try, she could play the tune flawlessly. It shocked her how much accomplishment she felt from that.

The woman slipped a heavy cover over the keys. "More later. There is much to discuss." The woman took seat on the table and began rapidly sketching on a sheet of paper with the charcoal.

"How am I here?" Kara asked. "What is this place?"

Without looking up from her drawing, the woman responded. "Water is a conduit."

"What the hell does that mean, 'water is a conduit'?"

"It means exactly what it says. Water is a conduit."

Then it hit her. The oracle. She had placed her hands in the basin of water, in her tent. But that didn't explain anything.

"This isn't real." Kara said, starting to get up. "That frakkin' oracle...she did something to me, and now I'm seeing things."

It was a surprise how quickly the woman's head snapped up at this. It was very disorienting to be watching your own face, watching you. "I assure you, this is _very_ real. In a way."

"What do you want?"

"I'm looking for my little girl."

Kara didn't know what to say to this. "Your little girl? How long has it been since you've seen her?"

"About twenty years. But I've been able to see her, from time to time." She continued her charcoal sketch.

"What-what do you mean, twenty years? How do you know she's still alive?"

The woman looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Her eyebrow. "She is breathing, eating, sleeping. I don't know if she is _alive_, however." She finished her charcoal sketch and handed it to Kara. "This was what she was like as a child."

Kara had no words. The sketch was a photorealistic portrait of Kara Thrace, age 6. There was something captured in the eyes...that Kara had not seen in many years.

"What do you mean, this is your daughter? I know for a fact, this girl is not your child."

The woman looked right into her eyes. "She is not mine by blood, but she is my child. The moment I saw her and she saw me, we both knew. She was mine and I was hers. But she was very far away. Very far away. As she got older, she forgot."

"Tell...tell me about her."

"She was born to a woman who believed that suffering was good for the soul, so she suffered. Her life was a testament to pain, injuries, accidents. Some inflicted upon others, some inflicted upon herself. Surrounds her like a bubble but it's not...real it's just- that's just something put in her head. It's something she wants to believe because it means that she's the problem, not the world she lives in. She wants to believe it because it means that she's bad luck. Like a cancer that needs to be removed. Because she hears the voice every day and wants her to be right."

Kara's face fell. "How...how could you know that?" Her voice was lower than a whisper.

The woman wearing her face smiled grimly. "It is my duty and my honor and my responsibility. I am her mother."

Kara slumped down in her seat. 'Tell me more about your child. Did you love her?"

"Of course I did! Beyond all reason, I loved her, and I love her still. It...hurt me that she was in pain and I could not do more for her. She was-is everything to me. My reason for living. I was her earth..."

"...and she was your stars." Kara finished. Tears ran freely down her face. "Oh Gods...how could I ever forget?"

The woman continued. 'The... woman my little girl was with tried, but she could never be a mother. To anyone. She just didn't have it in her. Life had made her bitter. She had fought in a great war, but never rose to any real greatness. She could never move away from the past. As she got older, my daughter began to forget me, or tried to. I was so far from her that it hurt to see me and not be with me. She became harder and became angry as she grew older."

The woman used paints to create a picture at unnatural speed. Kara looked it it. It was Kara Thrace, age 17. Her eyes, the look in them had crystallized. An indirect aura of anger and rage seemed to permeate the pretty face, and there were circles inder her eyes. Slight, but noticable.

"There were only three men she ever loved. Two of them were brothers. One died because of her carelessness, and the other, they kept circling around one another, like ships in the night."

"And the third?"

"The third played in the games, and was well-known. She eventually pushed him away, as too much ill will and time had passed between them. They parted ways." the woman frowned at that.

"So what will happen to your daughter now?" Kara asked.

"I have to see her again. In person. Help her. Heal her. She is so close to the edge...She does not have much time."

"If you are so far away, how will you see her again?"

"There is a gate." The woman used vivid colors to paint a red, yellow and black vortex in seconds. Kara looked at it and gasped.

"She must go through it, and believe that I will find her, and take her home."

"What if she doesn't? go through the gate, I mean." "She will die." came the reply. 'Most likely from her own hand. She will not be saved, and she will die, never realizing her destiny."

"What if..." Kara started. "A lot of people said that your daughter has a destiny. But a lot of people also hurt her."

"Yes, but that does not make that fact any more true. There is...greatness in her. I've seen it. I will do everything in my power to help her and care for her and make sure she sees it too."

"Why?" Kara had to know.

"I am her mother. There is no other reason."


	4. Slow Burn to the End

The priestess looked dissappointed.

"You broke the connection. I told you not to do that."

Kara frantically jumped out of the seat and wiped her mouth. "What the _hell_ was that?" she wiggled a finger ar the basin of water.

"Water is a conduit." Brenn answered, a sly smile on her face.

"Why does _everybody_ say that?!" Kara snapped. "What does it mean?"

"A flaw you have is that you do not take things at face value, Kara Thrace." Brenn sat and wiped her hands dry. "You expect everyone to be untrustworthy. To have a message behind the message. You will learn otherwise. Very soon, I think." she smiled again, confusing Kara.

'Who is she? How could she possibly know about me...? My secrets, my past...?"

"That...is not something I can answer. Suffice it to say, she is far beyond me in ways too numerous to count. But..." Brenn paused. "...she is not so far beyond you. Your fate and hers are linked."

Kara sat again, a set look on her face. "My fate? My fate is to be nothing but a world class frak up."

"No, no, no. That is another flaw you have. You underestimate your importance in the way of things. Your destiny is beyond all things, to transcend all limits, especially your own."

"I've gotta get out of here, clear my head..." Kara rose to leave, but was stopped by the oracle.

"Make your peace with this world, Kara Thrace. You will not see it again."

Kara stumbled out of the tent, picked a direction and started walking.

* * *

Her heart hadn't been in it, and he noticed. 

"Penny for your thoughts." Sam said. They were alone in her bunk, and Kara was staring off into space after they had finished. What had happened just a few minutes ago had been largely automatic, and her mind had been far away, still in that room by the ocean and the woman looking for her daughter.

Snapping back to the here and now, Kara looked at Sam. What had the woman said? _Ill will had passed between them_. Wasn't that the truth. Most of the time, when she looked at him, she was reminded of a beaten dog. She had kicked him away after New Caprica, but he still came sniffing around for scraps from her. At times, she hated herself for being weak and not setting him straight, instead of giving mixed messages.

The Cylon had done something to her. She always thought she was made of stronger stuff, but it had just taken three, four months for something to twist and fester in her, grow into something ugly. She felt like smashing something, most of the time. She had tried smashing Sam, but something in him wouldn't break. Not completely. She hated him for that.

"My thoughts don't matter." she said somewhat icily. She really wanted him gone, so she could think on things. She didn't have a lot of time, one way or the other.

"Did the oracle help?"

"I don't know what the oracle did. I have to think about some things. Alone." _Get out_.

"Look. I don't want you to be alone. Not now. Come with me back to my ship. Just for a little while. You need to decompress. Get away from these four walls." Gods, she wanted to rip the pleading look out of his eyes...

"Like I said, I have some things to think about." she tried to shut him down, make him leave.

"Kara, you need help."

Kara laughed, which came out like a harsh, sharp bark. "Yeah...I need help. Everyone says that lately. Hot Dog...Helo." she grinned. "it's like everyone knows what's best for Kara Thrace except for Kara Thrace. Everyone thinks I need saving. Well I don't. Maybe I don't deserve to be saved."

Sam tried to take her hand. Kara sprang out of bed and knocked him down. "I don't want your pity!" she yelled. "It's like everybody's on top of me, crushing the life out of me. Get off of me!" she screamed, and kicked Sam in the stomach. "Don't come back, Sam. I mean it. I'll hurt you if you do."

Sam struggled to his feet. "You really want to end it like this?"

"Just get out. I'm...a lost cause. I'm burning all my bridges. I'm contaminated. Touch me and die." Kara smiled.

Sam slowly backed away and left, slamming the door behind him.

Kara sat back in her bunk, holding her head. She had a strange ringing in her ears. She looked back up at the woman in the black robe and mask. Again, she seemed to be peeling away the layers of Kara Thrace. She sat in front of the card table in the middle of the room. The little girl was sitting on the table, shuffling cards. She was still marked with bruises and cuts, and her hand was bandaged. Slowly both the masked woman and child came to look at her. Then the child hopped off the table and took the woman's hand. They began to make their way to the door, which swung open.

They both stopped and again looked at her.

"You better have some answers. That's all I'm saying." Kara said.

The woman nodded slightly, her mask tipping, before leading the child out of the room. The last glimpse Kara had of the little girl was of her bleeding from her nose. Suddenly, Kara raised her hand to her own face. She was having a nosebleed. Slowly, she got up and began looking for a tissue.

* * *

She thought about Kat far too often. Why? The woman had been a bitch, in her opinion. Always looking to knock Starbuck off, become the new Number One. Didn't she know that Starbuck and excellence was the natural order, the way of things?

But she was a hell of a pilot. Reliable, a killer... All Kara knew was that she didn't want to go out the way Kat did, wasting away and fading. The end had to come fast and quick, before any pesky regrets could set in.

And no one brought up more regrets for her than Lee Adama.

Kara was in the memorial hallway, where everyone had posted pictures of friends, loved ones, fallen comrades, Viper jockeys who bit the big one. She turned slightly as Lee stood next to her. What else needed to be said about him? It had been put best by someone else. _Like two ships circling each other_. Wasn't that the damned truth. It shouldn't have been this hard, but it had been.

"Thinking about old friends?" Lee opened.

"Yeah. I think I'm having an existential moment, here. Or maybe it's just a dark moment. I don't know."

"Too many dead soldiers...Kat...Duck...Nora..."

"Yeah..." Kara sighed. "Listen," Lee perked up. " let's make a deal. If either of us buys it before the other, one of us has to put the other's photo up here." she tapped the board reserved specifically for Viper pilots.

Lee gave Kara a strange look, then squared himself. "Agreed." he said. "Any particular place?"

"Right here, next to Kat. You?"

"Hang me...next to Duck and Nora."

"Why the sudden interest in a spot on the wall, Kara?"

"It's just...no one lives forever, Lee. Especially not us. I just want to be ready, you know?"

"Yeah...it kinda feels like that time. Tie up all loose ends. The feeling comes and goes, you know."

Kara looked down at the deck. Someone had left candles on the deck in front of some pictures of people she didn't know. The candle had long since melted away, but it was what had been left that caught her eye. The wax had melted into a red, yellow and blue mess that formed a pattern. A spiral, or mandala.

It could have also been a gate...

Kara cracked her knuckles. "I guess so." she walked away, leaving a very confused Lee to stare at the wall of faces and think.

* * *

She had been drifting again, when the Admiral stopped her.

_What do you hear?_

"Nothing but the rain." she replied automatically. The President and Admiral Adama snapped into focus. Kara remembered hearing that the President would be on _Galactica _today.

"You look distracted, Captain." Laura Roslin said kindly.

"Just got a lot on my plate right now, Madame President." Kara replied. "I'm sorry, but if you'll excuse me, I have to be at a briefing."

"Of course." Adama said, his gravely voice rumbling lightly.

Kara began to walk away, down the hall, but stopped. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the gold figurine that the oracle had let her keep. Aurora, Goddess of the Dawn.

"Sir." Adama turned around, as did Roslin. Kara walked up and slipped the figurine into his hand. I picked this up somewhere recently and thought of you. It's Aurora, Goddess of teh Dawn, supposed to bring new beginnings."

"I'm familiar with it, Captain. For my model ship?"

"Yes sir."

"...Thank you, Captain. It means a lot. Very thoughtful."

Kara smiled lightly and began walking down the corridor again. President Roslin watched Kara walk down a seemingly empty hallway. There seemed to be a dimming of the light, and what appeared to be a woman stepped out from the shadows of the sparsely-lit hallway. Laura could see that the woman was wearing a black robe, and was barefoot. But what really caught the eye was the metallic mask that she wore. It was carved in the shape of a bird's face, with dominating yellow eyes. Captain Thrace appeared to be talking and nodding with trhe woman, her words too low to be overheard. Suddenly, the mysterious woman's mask snapped in Laura's direction, and a second later, Captain Thrace turned around also and looked back at the President. Laura waved weakly, and Kara returned it. The black robed woman then melted back into the shadows, and Captain Thrace walked away.

Laura turned around and began walking with the Admiral again.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No. It was nothing. Can we get something to eat? I'm hungry." The two of them headed in the direction of the mess hall.


End file.
